Three bands I’ve been listening to recently have been pushing 80s and 90s nostalgia buttons for me.  Don’t get me wrong - I’m thoroughly enjoying each of these albums on their own merits, but I just can’t shake the similarities I hear between them and other artists.  Anyway, consider that a preface to these short [...]

My seven-year-old son likes the song Given Up by Linkin Park.  It’s a loud song, which is much of the appeal, and you basically have to scream at the top of your lungs to sing along, which is the rest of its charm.  So I put it on an Ipod mix for my kids.
At this [...]

I’m planning on downloading Dave Matthews’ latest album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, out of nostalgia.  I bought their last album, Stand Up,  out of guilt.  I felt bad that I had essentially abandoned a band I used to really pay attention to, that truly factored into a large part of my personal history.  [...]

I don’t really need to say much about Talking Heads.  One of my favorite bands.  I can listen to Heaven or This Must Be the Place (naive melody) all day on repeat.  Really.  All day.  Repeat.  There are only a few bands where I can work my way happily through two to three dozen of [...]

I like finding new music.  There’s always a little thrill to come across a new band or singer and just fall in love.  And I admit, I enjoy it just a little bit more when it isn’t something that everyone else has heard (though I’m not going to not buy something just because it is [...]

There are a couple of reasons why I lump these two bands together.  They both put out incredibly catchy indie pop music.  They both have a distinctive red-headed female vocalist who is paired with an overshadowed hook-driven male bandmate (who may or may not have red hair, but I wouldn’t know ’cause I have no [...]

There is a certain trick to being simultaneously angry and melodic.  I’d say that Linkin Park and Rage Against the Machine are good examples of this.  Nine Inch Nails too.  Against Me! pulls off the same trick on the album New Wave.  For a couple of months after I bought this one, I could not [...]

OK, so sometimes people ask you, “what’s your favorite [fill in the blank].”  I’ll be honest.  That’s usually when my mind actually does go blank.  I know there are things I really like, but as I’m searching for an answer, I tend to spit out something that not only is not my favorite [blank], but [...]